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Friday, September 2, 2011

Stitching Sunflowers

Have you ever noticed the amazing geometric pattern in the seedy part of a sunflower? I wanted to mimic it a bit in this wall quilt but I'm not too sure about the stitching in the dark brown centers of some of these sunflowers. I think curved crosshatching would have come close to God's pattern, but I was too tired, too pushed for time, and possibly too lazy to figure out the size and placement of the cross hatching lines. But I am making progress. Which is good because this quilt is slated to hang in a window display where I (try to) sell my work. Actually, I was supposed to have it ready yesterday!

I love having my creative outlet and I even like having deadlines that make me take time to do it, but I'm having serious difficulties in prioritizing my time. Kids, stitch, sleep.....

Below is a little trick I use to help me with thread tension and thread color selection when doing my quilting.

I add a little bit of extra top fabrics to my sandwich so I can test the threads on the actual batting, backing, and top fabrics that I am using. Having at the edge of the piece I'm making saves me some cutting time and gives me more room to grip than if I were using little scrap bits. Of course, getting your tension as close as possible to balanced is very important, but this is the best way I've found to test the color. You really have to stitch it out to see how it will look because the fabric color really impacts the color of the thread as does the thickness of the thread. Puddling the thread on top is a good start, but it is only the start.

I really wish I could play with color without having to buy so much fabric and thread! I like to mix and match the colors on hand, but I don't always have the best colors. But these sunflowers are looking pretty good, I think.

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